A YOUTHFUL INTRUDER. 107 



One quality that my little friend most woe- 

 fully lacked was repose. Not only were her 

 motions jerky and exasperating in the extreme, 

 but during my whole acquaintance with her I 

 never saw her for a moment absolutely still. 

 On the rare occasions when her body was at 

 rest, her head turned from side to side as though 

 moved by machinery, like the mandarin dolls of 

 the toy-shops, and I had doubts whether she 

 ever slept. I was really concerned about her. 

 Nervous prostration seemed the only thing she 

 could look forward to ; and later I found that 

 Bradford Torrey had suffered similar anxiety 

 about one of her kind, as related in his charm- 

 ing story, " A Widow and Twins." 



There was one exception, as I said, to the 

 complete success of the little lady in green, in 

 establishing her claim to the vine. The indi- 

 vidual who refused to be convinced interested 

 me greatly. He looked a guileless and innocent 

 youth ; his tender age being indicated by a 

 purer white on the breast and a not fully grown 

 tail. Moreover, he was not so deft in movement 

 as the experienced matron he defied ; he was 

 almost clumsy, in fact, having some difficulty in 

 manoeuvring his unwieldy beak and getting his 

 head into the tube, and being much disconcerted 

 by the swaying of the blossoms in the breeze. 

 Youth and innocence were shown, too, in the 



